THE EIGHTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT 



were never born than Payne, Long, and Todd, who 

 were in office in my time, and they were sufficiently 

 well mounted chiefly on horses bred by the Duke." 



Then come two passages so thoroughly Nim- 

 rodian that they will bear no mutilation. " * But 

 how did his Grace carry himself in the field ? ' 



" ' Why, here he was like a Duke because he was 

 like a gentleman.' 



" * But was he not difficult of access ? ' 



** ' Certainly not, to such as had a right to address 

 him.' 



" * Did he not " blow up " his field, and swear at 

 them as his father did ? ' 



" ' No, at least not half as much as they deserved, 

 for no man's hounds were more overridden at one 

 time than the Duke of Beaufort's were.' 



" When his Grace was a young man, I have reason 

 to believe he was not content with calling out 

 ' Hold hard ! ' in chace, or ' Stand still, gentlemen ! ' 

 when at fault; but afterwards, like the Grecian sage, 

 * Be master of thine anger ' was one of the maxims 

 he cherished ..." 



Nimrod evidently did not think silence was a 

 virtue in a master of hounds, for he goes on, "If 

 he were a competent judge of what his hounds 

 were doing, he kept it very much to himself." This, 

 I suppose, means that the Duke was not quite so 

 ready to supply Nimrod with copy by discussing 

 matters with him as Mr. Apperley desired, and 

 so far had forfeited the favour of that Olympian 



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